Friday, July 20, 2012

Wind turbine at Tregaddock near St Mabyn and broader issues

From Mike Heywood It is a shame that we have not had an
open meeting to discuss the implications of this project together as a
community, respectfully listening to the pros and cons. My views are heavily influenced
by what I think is going to happen globally, both in the short term (the next 2
years) and longer term (affecting our grandchildren and future generations). This
embraces climate change, global economics, the banking system, population
growth, resource depletion, species extinction and peak oil which are all completely interlinked and
impact on our daily lives in increasing ways. Over the last couple of years, I
have given lectures on this subject at several Universities all over the UK and Ireland, including
the London School of Economics.

My personal view of the near future is that
there are going to be massive changes, some of which we are already
experiencing. Whatever is happening now, it will not be the same in 5 years
time. My triptych “Amazing
Grace” hanging in St Mabyn Church is an
allegory of the situation.

Regarding our current lifestyles, if we,
collectively (Mankind) make the right decisions now, our grand children just
might have a chance of survival. But will Mankind, driven by each
individual’s personal greed, come together before it is too late? The
decisions have to be made now, and there is absolutely no sign of any consensus
between the 7 billion humans on the Planet (which has doubled in my lifetime),
so we can’t expect the politicians to solve the problems. It seems
collectively we can’t see the wood for the trees.

Here’s some
questions about broader political and economic issues in the short and long
term, which are relevant to the turbine debate.

1)Will there
be a complete collapse of the global debt based banking system, which nearly
happened in October 2008?

2)Will this lead
to erosion of trust in political systems in most Countries and the rise of
extreme political parties and mass civil unrest?

3)Will there
be deflation and a Global Economic Depression? How will this affect local
businesses, power supplies and food production?

4)In the UK, will there
be falling tax revenues and massive cuts in Government spending, including all
pension benefits, NHS/ social funding and schemes such as the electricity
tariff? Will a future government be forced to renege on current promises to all
sections of the community, particularly those with the least political clout.

5)Will local
communities have to become less reliant on State support and more locally
focused, as it was in the past.

6)Can we
expect power outages from the National grid, so making any local production of
energy critical, if it can be tapped locally.

You will note that there are no
Government, local authority or Parish plans in place to cover this scenario, so
is anyone asking these questions?

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties,
nations, and epochs it is the rule.”……… Friedrich
Nietzsche